Chicago wins NHL draft lottery and gets first pick of top teens in June

News

Chicago wins NHL draft lottery and gets first pick of top teens in June

The Hawks moved from fifth to first in Tuesday's draft lottery to determine the order of selection for the first 14 selection. The lottery was held behind closed doors at the league offices. The Philadelphia Flyers will go second, the Phoenix Coyotes third, Los Angeles Kings fourth, Washington Capitals fifth and Edmonton Oilers sixth.

Columbus, Boston, St. Louis, Florida, Carolina, Montreal, Toronto and Colorado round out the top 14 in drafting order.

Right-wingers Jakub Voracek of the Halifax Mooseheads, Patrick Kane of the London Knights and Alexei Cherepanov of Omsk of the Russian elite league, centres Angelo Esposito of the Quebec Remparts and Sam Gagner of the Knights, and left-winger James Van Riemsdyk of the U.S. development team are the top-ranked juniors in most scouting reports.

The entry draft will take place at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, June 22-23.

The order of selection for the first 14 picks was determined by a weighted lottery system.

Since no club could move up more than four positions in the draft order, the only clubs with the opportunity to receive the first overall selection were the five with the lowest regular-season points totals.

Phialdelphia, the club with the fewest regular-season points had the greatest chance, 25 per cent, of winning the draft lottery. Phoenix had an 18.8 per cent chance, Los Angeles 14.2, Washington 10.7 and Chicago 8.1.